


i shall have my night

by Sparrows



Category: Pyre (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-19 03:05:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11888622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sparrows/pseuds/Sparrows
Summary: In which Oralech's intrusion becomes a little more intimidating.





	i shall have my night

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy this fic? [I rewrote it to make improvements and expand on it!](http://archiveofourown.org/works/13183095)

It was intimidating enough, to see Oralech from a distance as he prepared to face the Nightwings - but here, in the blackwagon, he seemed so much bigger. This small, comfortable space did not fit him as it might have done years ago; he had to bend to avoid scraping his horntips against the ceiling, and every trinket and keepsake he had picked up in his hands had seemed like the tiny furniture one might find in a dollhouse. He spoke without turning to face them.

As they spoke, the Reader's fear begged them to turn around. To reach for the door handle, and flee. The others would return soon; Oralech would not be so imposing when faced with the others. And yet they squared their shoulders and faced him. He could not bully them away from this, their home; they would not allow it.

And then he stepped in close, and that courage fled. The answer to the question he'd asked died on their lips; they shuffled back, two paces and then a third and fourth as he matched them step for step. Finally their back came up against the wall of the wagon, impact marked with a solid thud, and yet they could not help the urge to press closer to the wall, to shrink away as much as possible.

Their words came back to them when Oralech took his time studying their face. "You - you can't hurt me," they said, lifting the Book higher in their arms as if it could defend them, should Oralech's mountain turn to a violent avalanche. It trembled in their grip, to match the way the rest of their body shook. "It's on, it's - page one-seventeen, you can't - _'Life-blood, i-itself, -'"_

A massive fist slammed into the wall mere inches from the Reader's face, and they immediately went silent with a choked-off whimper. It was a wonder the wood had not broken under his hand; it creaked enough, and the sound - even though it had lasted only a moment - seemed to echo through the cramped wagon's space.

Oralech laughed, once. It was not a particularly happy laugh, nor was it even amused; it was a cold and bitter thing, a perfect match to the man who had made it. He pulled his hand back and laid his palm flat against the wall. His hand was large enough it could easily have wrapped around the Reader's throat or face without any hint of difficulty or hope of struggle.

"I know the passage you speak of. _'Life-blood itself is never to be shed before, during, or after any Rite.'"_ He lifted his hand away from the wall and then lowered it, very deliberately, to the Reader's shoulder. His palm engulfed them utterly. He could squeeze, and the joint would be shattered. "We are currently outside the Rites. That law... it does not apply."

The Reader closed their eyes and swallowed. They could feel hot tears beginning to prick at the corners of their eyes. They'd come so far, done so much, and now... Scribes, Volfred's plan had been going so well.

...Wait. Volfred. Of _course,_ they could reach him with their mind - or any of the others. It was a matter of distance. If they could just-- they reached out, tentatively, focusing first on the book in their arms and then casting their mind out, seeking, searching...

Oralech's grip on their shoulder tightened to the point of pain, and the Reader's concentration shattered, their eyes flying open and watering ever more severely. "I know a Reader's tricks," he snarled; he'd caught them, felt their mind brush past as it sought out aid.

"I am no murderer," he growled. "Far have I fallen in my time here, but the Downside has not - will _never_ \- make a killer of me." His eyes were two burning coals, fixated unerringly on their face; when he spoke, his lips curled away from the points of his teeth, far larger and sharper than any human's.

After a few long moments, he closed his eyes. "Relay to them a message for me, little shadow." His voice was still low, but it had lost some of the threatening edge; he seemed to be recalling something, though what it was, the Reader could not tell - and did not dare reach out to him to discover.

"I will," they whispered, their voice strangled to the barest edge of a whisper. "I - I will, what is it, just--"

"Tell them... I shall have my night." The words hung between them for a moment, sinking in. Then he pulled away, releasing the Reader's shoulder and straightening as much as he could within the confines of the wagon. The Reader stayed where they were, pressed against the wall, barely trusting their legs to carry their own weight.

He strode away, across the wagon. At the doorway he paused, head already ducked to leave and one hand gripping the doorframe. He looked back through the thin curtain of his hair. "I shall have my night," he repeated, far quieter than before.

The Reader watched him turn towards the door once more, shouldering his way through and leaving it ajar behind himself. They dared not move or even breathe, listening to his receding tracks.

And then there was only silence. The Reader's legs finally buckled underneath them and they slid down the wall in shuddery stops and starts. They could not make themself move; every muscle had locked tight with fear. The Book slid free from their arms, thudding to the ground and lying abandoned where it fell. With some difficulty the Reader curled up, dragging their knees up to their chest to hug both arms around their legs, striving to be as small as possible - even now, after Oralech had already left.

Then, finally, the tears that had been threatening since the moment Oralech had gotten their back to the wall finally began to fall, and the silence was broken with the sound of terrified sobbing.


End file.
